Homework is one of the most contentious issues discussed in Primary Schools. Many parents demand more, others less and teachers and children are often stuck in the middle.

Homework can provide opportunities to practise skills, review content and deepen understanding of concepts learnt. At GCC the main focus of homework is literacy based. While our new learners in Prep are developing foundational literacy skills, all the children in Year 1 – 6 are expected to engage in regular home reading as part of their daily homework routine. 

This is considered the most essential homework activity and for children in Year 3 – 6, at least one Lexile Reading quiz or Book Hooks blog is expected to be completed every fortnight. 

When reading, while the mechanics of decoding text is important, understanding what has been read and being able to retell the story builds comprehension skills which include:

• Predicting – where children can use information from the text, images or your own experience to try and predict what might happen next, or how characters might react or what the outcome will be.
• Questioning – where children ask and answer questions about the text to help them understand the meaning of the text.
• Monitoring – where children identify if something doesn’t make sense as they read it. They stop, reread and think or discuss what they have read to understand the meaning.
• Visualising – where children can paint a picture in their head of things being described or explained in a text which helps bring the text to life.
• Making connections – where children can compare what they are reading to:
  • something in your own lives
  • another text they have read or watched
  • something happening in the world.
• Summarising – where children notice the most important things in the text and use their own words to describe what they have read.

If your child is in Year 3 – 6 and you were unable to join the Literacy Pro Parent Pipeline session earlier this term, here is a link to the presentation. This provides information on how the LitPro Home reading program works, how children can access quizzes and expectations for each year level.

Each fortnight I review the home reading progress of all children in Year 3 – 6. Your ongoing support to oversee that regular daily reading homework is being done is greatly appreciated.

‘So it is with children who learn to read fluently and well: They begin to take flight into whole new worlds as effortlessly as young birds take to the sky.’ —William James

Gail Mitchell – Head of Primary